


Bond

by OTTSTF



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-07 10:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14668860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OTTSTF/pseuds/OTTSTF
Summary: Will's day had been completely normal up until he nears his home after school. Riding through Mirkwood, he hears noises, and can't help but investigate.He finds himself meeting a new friend, and puts it upon himself to take care of them.Forgive me, my summaries suck.Formerly titled "Seven".





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's block GTFO.
> 
> I've never really experimented with original characters before, or other relationships (I'm too obsessed with Mileven. Shoot me).  
> So, let's see how well this goes, shall we?

Riding slowly home from school, Will is completely zoned out, not paying attention to much else than the peaceful feeling of finally being allowed to ride home without a bodyguard with him at all times. (As much as he appriciates the love and care from his family, even his friends, it doesn’t take long for constant eyes to become annoying.

The day had been completely normal up to this point; school boring as ever, minus the period with Mr. Clarke. Same old taunts of ‘Zombie Boy’ floating around him, not entirely directed at him, but nonetheless used.

The day is like any other. He intends to get home, have his lunch, refresh himself, get changed and then head over to the Wheelers’, where the party are meeting up as usual.

He rides through Mirkwood, nearing home, when he hears a sudden crashing sound. He stops immediately, looking to where it came from. It sounded distant, but not too far away. In the back of his mind, his own voice is screaming at him; _don’t go anywhere near it. It could be a Demogorgon._ he hears his voice say. But, curiosity winning the battle, he leaves his bike, and begins slowly approaching the source of the sound.

He hears a few more crunches, helping him locate the source.

He’s nothing but shocked once he finds it.

A person.

A person that tries to run as soon as they catch sight of Will.

Will calls after them, asking them to stop, to no avail. He chases, hoping they’ll give up eventually.

He’s not exactly pleased when the person fails to see a branch in their path, tripping them up so that they land violently on their front.

“Shit.” Will curses absent mindedly, stalling for a brief moment before rushing to their side.

The person tries to scramble to their feet again, but Will’s there before they get a chance.

“Hey, hey.” Will lightly holds their shoulder, tight enough so that they cannot run but not too tight.  
“I’m not going to hurt you.”

It’s a boy, about his age,  by the looks of him .  Skin pale, h ead of  brown  hair  nearly to his  shoulders, and he’s covered in dirt. He also smells like he hasn’t showered for months.

Will’s starting to think that he may well not have.

The boy’s looking at Will, eyes wide, fear written all over his face, which crushes Will’s heart.

“What’re you doing out here?” Will asks him.

No response. Will starts to feel confused.

“Do you… have a home?” Will feels this is a genuine question to ask, seeing this boy’s state. He’s definitely not had a haircut for at least a year.

Still, no response.

Will sighs. “How about a name? Do you have a name?”

At this, the boy reacts somewhat. He glances downward, to his arm. Will suddenly feels his chest tighten.

The boy looks back to him, clearly hesitant.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m on your side. I want to help you.” Will tells him.

The boy finally lifts his arm slowly. Will looks, and his hunch is correct. There’s a tattoo. A number.

007.

“Oh my god…” Will lets out under his breath. He looks back to the boy’s face, finally understanding why he’s in such a horrific state.   
“You’re… from the lab.”

The boy’s eyes widen, clearly shocked by Will’s knowledge of this. He tries to bolt again, but Will doesn’t let off his grip. It surprises Will for a moment that he’s able to hold him in place, but then it occurs to him that he’s likely hardly eaten anything for well over a year. How he’s even alive right now is amazing.

“Hey, hey!” Will exclaims, holding his arm as tight as he can without hurting him.   
“I’m not going to tell them!”

He doesn’t seem to listen as he keeps trying to tug his arm away.

“I know what they do. I know how bad they are. I promise, I won’t take you back.”

He calms down slowly, looking back to Will, still a hint of panic in his eyes.

“I’m a friend.” Will tells him, letting his grip loosen. “I can help you.”

The boy stares for what feels like minutes, before he finally manages to open his mouth for a reason other to breathe heavily after trying to escape.

“Why?” is all he says. His voice is soft, still sounding quite young, and it hurts Will to hear how scared he is.

“Why… what?” Will fails to understand the boy’s question.

“Why… help?” he adds.

Will feels even more empathy for him as he asks this. Has he not had any contact other than the lab before this? Will realises things are going to be quite hard if that is the case.

“Because I know what they’re like.” he says. “Those people, at the lab. They’re bad, they use you.”

The boy slowly nods his head.

“I understand that you’re scared. I get it, I would be too if I were you. But, listen to me.” Will takes both of the boy’s hands in his without even thinking about it. The boy glances at their hands for a brief moment, before snapping back up as Will continues talking.

“I promise you. I’m going to help you. The lab is closed now, they can’t hurt you ever again. Come with me, and you won’t have to stay out here any more. You’ll be safe.”

The boy is clearly still hesitant, but he eventually nods his head. It suddenly hits Will like a tonne of bricks that this must be exactly what it was like for Mike meeting El. Scared, no sense of friendship or family.

It’s then that Will takes his rucksack off his back, opening it to pull out his SuperCom.

“Don’t panic.” he tells the boy before even going anywhere near the _talk_ button, understanding that he may think that Will’s contacting someone hostile.  
“I’m just calling my friends. They can help too, okay? They know about the lab too.”

The boy still panics. What if  _they_ hear? 

Will sees this in his expression.  
“I’m not going to say anything! I won’t tell them through this. I’m just going to call them over, that’s all.”

The boy softens his stance, nodding his head once again. Will smiles in relief.

He extends the antenna, switching the volume knob into the  _on_ position and raising the volume slightly, before holding down the  _talk_ button and speaking into the microphone.

“Guys? It’s Will. Anyone read? Over.”

Not a few seconds later, Mike’s voice appears on the other side.

“Will, hey! What’s up? You still coming round after lunch? Over.”

“Um… yeah, that’s gonna have to change.” Will says, forgetting the whole _‘over’_ thing.

“What? Why?” Mike asks, sounding worried, also no longer bothered to end his lines in _proper_ radio form.

“Just… come to my place. Right now. Bring the others too; is Jane with you?” he’s found it easy to refer to El as Jane over the radios and in public, not having known her for long. He calls her El when they’re together, out of hearing range of the general public, but over the radio, it was common sense to them all to never go anywhere near her lab title.

“Yeah… she’s here.” Mike sounds confused; Will can easily picture his face. “Why?”

“Just… just come here. Everyone.”

“Uh… okay? We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Thanks, Mike. Over and out.” he then turns the radio off, retracting the antenna before dropping it back into his bag. He swings it over his shoulders before speaking to the boy once again.

“Come on. Let’s go back to my place. My mom knows as well, she’ll know what to do.”

  


Seven, despite following, and despite the friendliness displayed by Will, cannot help but panic. What if this is a trap? What if these other people are bad? What if Will’s mom tries to take him back?

He’s not confident enough to believe Will’s claim of the lab being closed. How could that possibly happen so such a large place?

Nonetheless, he hops onto the back of Will’s bike, holding tightly onto Will as he begins cycling again. Will cannot help but feel odd in response to the boy’s grasp. He’s holding tight, but his arms still feel soft, likely due to his weakness from a lack of food. But alongside of that, just being held like this… it’s foreign to Will. He finds he likes the feeling, which panics Will more than anything.

  


 

* * *

  


  


They get to the Byers’ home not a few minutes later. Seven glances around, observing the building and its surroundings. Will leaves his bike in the shed, before heading through the door, Seven following his path.

“Mom?” Will calls out.

“Will?” Joyce calls back from the kitchen. “Hey, honey. Dinner’s nearly ready. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, but…” Will glances over to Seven, and he does the same. “I kinda have something important to talk to you about.”

Will hears his mother immediately drop what she’s doing to head out to him. Obviously a reaction earned from the unfortunate events they’ve all been though.

“What’s the matter? Is something wr-”  
_-ong_ , she would’ve finished, had it not been for her seeing the stranger beside Will, covered in mud with hair looking like a girl’s wig.

“Who’s this?” she asks immediately.

“Mom… I…” Will doesn’t know how to continue. He glances to Seven again, he doing the same. Will gestures to Seven’s arm, which he understands as a prompt to display his label.

Hesitantly, Seven does so. Raising his arm, he shows the woman before him the numbers tattooed to his skin.

She gasps, taking a step back slightly.

“I found him not too far from here. I think he’s been living in the woods for over a year…” Will tells his mother.

“Okay…” she snaps herself back to reality, and into action. “Get him a change of clothes, show him how to use the shower. I’m calling Hopper.”

Seven immediately panics, just as before.

“It’s okay!” Will immediately snaps into calming mode. “Hopper’s a good guy. He’s… _helped._ Before.” Will tries to keep his explination as open as can be.

Seven’s eyes widen.  _Helped?_ Helped who? Are there more people from the lab out here? Who are they?

He’s snapped out of his thoughts as Will grabs his hand again. “Come on. You need to get yourself cleaned up.”

Joyce watches her son lead Seven through the house, and she can’t help but feel proud in this moment. She knows Will is a caring person, softer than most, but seeing him handle Seven’s timidness really warms her heart.

  


Will pulls out whatever clothes he finds, before taking Seven to the bathroom, showing him how to control the shower’s temperature, and what soaps to use.

“Get all that dirt off yourself, then put these on.” Will tells him, setting the clothes atop the toilet seat. We’ll just be out here, okay? Come out whenever you’re ready.”

Seven nods his head. Will goes to close the door, but he stops short, looking back to Seven.

“Is this okay? Do you want it closed?” he remembers Mike telling him about El back through the year of separation; how she’d panicked as he went to close the door on her. He assumes Seven migh have a similar fear of closed spaces as she did back then.

Seven nods his head, however. “Okay.” he says simply. Will shares a smile, slowly closing the door as he leaves the bathroom to let Seven do his thing.

  


 

* * *

  


  


“Joyce, hey.” Florence greets over the phone. “I’ll pass you on.” she says, automatically knowing who she’d be calling for, for reasons neither of them really intend to share any time soon. She rolls her eyes as she forwards the call onto Hopper’s phone, lowering her own handset.

“Chief Hopper, Hawkins P.D., how can I help?” Hopper grumbles into the phone.

“Hop, it’s Joyce.” she says bluntly.

“Joyce!” he lightens up immediately. “What’s up?”

“You need to get down here.” she says. “Nothing to panic about, but you _need_ to get here.”

Hopper springs to his feet faster than ever before. Joyce wouldn’t summon him like this for no reason. Despite her reassurance of it being nothing to panic about, he can’t help but do exactly that.

“I’ll be right over.” and with that, he slams the phone down, heading straight out the room towards the exit.

“You’re on duty, Hop!” Florence calls from her seat behind the desk.

“This isn’t personal, Flo!” Hopper groans, failing to believe how much she tends to torment him over Joyce these days.

“ _Sure._ ” the woman mumbles to herself, smirking.

  


 

* * *

  


  


Joyce is back in the kitchen, preparing a second plate of food, when the door knocks. She’s confused. She hadn’t long called Hopper; how could he be here already?

Will makes it to the door before her, nearly pulling it off its hinges. As soon as Joyce hears the voices from the other side, she absent-mindedly nods her head, to nobody in particular.  _Of course_ he called his friends over. She should’ve known that from the beginning, really.

They pile in one after the other; Mike and El in lead, hands as always connected, followed by the other three.

“So what did you summon us here for, Byers?” Lucas asks him.

“You’ll see, soon.” he tells him. “Just… don’t freak out, and don’t go crazy, alright?”

They all eyeball him as if he’s crazy, but refrain from persisting. Instead, El leads Mike over to the sofa, much to the eye-rolling amusement of the others.

  


A few minutes pass. Seven finds himself now confident enough to leave the bathroom to face the multiple new voices outside. He’d cleaned himself up nicely, feeling the best he’s felt for far longer than he can possibly remember.  He’s spent some time just standing by the door, listening to the voices outside. None of them sound exactly worrying to him; curious, yes, which he’s not entirely fond of, but nothing to fear.

And so he finally opens the door,  all voices halt ing as he steps out into the hallway .


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone stares at Seven as he steps out of the bathroom. They can’t help it; none of them have ever seen a boy with hair this length before.

He feels beyond uncomfortable as he takes in all the eyes that lay upon him. He feels an immediate urge to just retreat back into the bathroom, where the walls guard him from the prying gazes of all of Will’s friends.

Will senses Seven’s unease, quickly rising to his feet to reassure him that all is okay.  
“Hey, don’t worry. They’re just surprised. I didn’t tell them, remembr?”

Seven slowly nods his head, his gaze flickering between Will and the five others.

Mike observes Will with the stranger, and can’t help but feel a sense of Déja Vu; he remembers well the days of having to reassure El that Dustin and Lucas meant good, just as Will seems to be doing here.

“They’re your friends too, okay?”

Seven’s eyebrows furrow. “Friend?”

_That_ settles it. That question, to that word, immediately causes Mike and El to glance at each-other, both remembering how that was the first word Mike ever taught her. 

Dustin and Lucas too share a glance, catching on also. 

Mike lets Will explain the concept of a friend to Seven, before he pipes up, squeezing El’s hand slightly.

“Will?”

He turns to Mike wordlessly.

“Is he…” Mike doesn’t know how to say it without coming across bad, so he simply taps his wrist where he knows El’s label to be. Will just nods his head.

He and El practically jump to their feet in unison, startling Seven.

“Guys, calm! He’s… y’know. Timid as hell.”

“Can I see?” El asks Seven.

Seven’s unsure why, but he feels an odd sense of similarity with this girl. He doesn’t linger for her; he raises his arm, displaying his  _007_ label.

El’s breath hitches.  _Another one. A brother._   
Now, she approaches Seven slowly, raising her own arm, she rolls up the blue ribbon that was once Sara’s, displaying her own  _011_ label to him. His eyes widen immediately.

“ _Eleven._ ” he says her former name, looking in her eyes in shock.

“ _Seven._ ” she returns.

Seven then  feels the urge to hug her, so he does. She too returns the hug, holding him tight.

“Have you… met before?” Will asks her.

“No.” she tells him. “But we’re lab sibblings.”

“I understand.” he says, nodding. 

S even then pulls back.  
“Will… help you too?” he asks El.

She shakes her head, breaking a smile. “No. Mike helped me.” she places a hand onto Mike’s shoulder as a way of letting him know who Mike is.   
“Long time ago now.”

Seven looks at Mike, seeing the ever-growing smile on his face.  He then decides to hug Mike.

Mike’s stunned initially, not expecting a hug from Seven. He awkardly hugs back for the few seconds it lasts. Seven sees Mike’s confused face.

“For help Eleven.” he tells Mike.

Mike’s smiling once again.  
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.” he not-too-quietly whispers.

El shyly ducks her head, having her own smile grow wide. She plants a peck onto Mike’s cheek in response, causing Mike to just smile even more whilst the spot on his cheek seems to reach boiling point.

Seven looks between them, clearly confused by the gesture, but then Will prevents him from wondering about it for any longer.

“We don’t call her Eleven, by the way.” he tells Seven. “Mike gave her El, short for Eleven. Her real name is Jane, though.”

Seven looks between him and El. “El.” he echos. “Jane.”

She nods her head. “Do you know your real name?”

He shakes his head, frowning.

“Hey, that’s okay!” Will reassures him. “We can always give you one. Would you like that?”

Seven eventually nods his head, liking the sound of ridding himself of the  _Seven_ title. 

“Do you know what you want?” Will asks.

He shakes his head.

Will hums in consideration. “Any name ideas?” he asks the others. They shrug in response.

“It’s not really like you can shorten Seven…” Mike ponders. “I mean, you can, but Sev sounds… weird.”

Seven’s face scrunches at the sound of that, causing a light giggle from Will.

“Is there anything else we could get that’s related to it?” Dustin pops in. “I mean, we could add a single letter, and get Steven, but I don’t know what Steve would think of that.”

“As if that matters.” Lucas elbows him, rolling his eyes. 

“Sounds too similar to Seven.” Mike comments. “If someone that recognised him heard us call him Steven, they could catch on straight away.”

“It’s not like that stops us from calling El… El.” Dustin states.

“We call her _Jane_ outside _._ ” Max reminds him. Dustin raises his hands in defeat at that.

All the while, Seven’s eyes are darting between each person as they give their input.

Until Will suddenly startles him jumping in.   
“Oh, I got something!” he says a bit too loudly.  
“Sorry…” he looks to Seven, feeling guilty for startling him. Seven gives him a small smile. 

“His number is Seven, yeah?” Will begins.

“Yeah…” Max relays everyone’s confusion.

“And the tattoos are made of three numbers.”

“Yeah, they are.” Lucas confirms his point.

“Well, how could you say that?”

“What?” most of them mumble.

“The numbers. Not just Seven; how could you pronounce the whole thing?”

“What, zero-zero-seven?” Mike’s eyebrows are scrunched in confusion.

“That’s one way, but how could you shorten that?”

“Double-zero-seven?” Lucas questions.

“Close…”

“Oh my god…” Dustin rolls his eyes. “Are you really thinking of double-o-seven?”

“Yeah!” Will exclaims. “I know it’s a British thing, but I think _James_ would work! It’s related to _007_ , but not so obvious that it just gives it away.”

“I don’t know, man.” Lucas rolls his eyes “It seems a bit silly to me.”

Will’s about to argue, but he’s beaten to it.

“ _James._ ” Seven tries the name out.

“Yeah!” Will nods his head. “What do you think? Do you like it?”

“I think it’s a good name.” El reassures Will, who smiles in thanks.

“ _James._ ” Seven repeats. “I like… James.” he smiles at Will.

“You do?”

He nods his head in confirmation.

“Well I guess that settles that, then.” Max leaves the crowd, laughing slightly as she returns to the sofa; Lucas and Dustin follow shortly behind.

“Well, that was easier than I expected.” Mike comments.

“Yeah, a lot better than Sev.” El jokes.

“Well, nice to meet you, _James._ ” Will raises his hand for a shake, not thinking that James may not understand the gesture.

James does look at his hand in confusion for a moment, before deciding to copy Will’s gesture, raising his hand up too. Will takes his hand and shakes it, which James doesn’t undertand why, but he smiles anyway.

“Thank you, Will.” he says softly.

Will finds himself smiling back automatically. He can’t help but love the look of a smile on James’ face; not too long ago, he was still a lost boy in the woods, not having anywhere to live for more than likely over a year. Yet here he is, already capable of smiling gratefully, just for being given a name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: This was the first thing I had tried to work out before even starting the fic, other than the fact it would be Will-based. I wanted the name to be related to the number somehow, when suddenly, my mind clicked _'double-o-seven, you moron'_. This was the decider of what number he would be.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the wait, and even more so for the short chapter. On one hand, I don't want to rush this. On the other, I don't want the wait to be huge.
> 
> I can't win either way. :D

Hopper hasn’t raced to the Byers’ home this fast for _quite_ a while; and frankly, he’d love to be able to forget the last reason why.

That’s why, as he stays barely at the speed limit, he can’t help himself but panic. Who’s hurt? How did it happen? Are more other-worldly demons here to torment them?  
Is El okay?

This last worry rings in his mind like the ever-memorable alarms of Hawkins Lab from their last inter-dimensional war. Why can that poor girl never catch a break? Why must the world do everything it can to torment her and her friends?

He breathes a sigh of relief as he pulls up in front of the Byers’ home to find it still very much standing, and in seemingly immaculate condition. Perhaps his worries really were all for nothing, he considers as he approaches the front door.

  


 

* * *

  


  


Things had calmed down relatively quickly in the Byers’ home. The questions would be flying out of Dustin, Lucas and Max had Will not insisted, multiple times, that they give James some room. Mike and El had knew to keep their curiosity contained, remembering well how intimidated El was when the party had first met her.

James and Will were sat side-by-side at the dining table, eating their lunch, whilst the party tried to keep themselves occupied.

That’s why, upon the door suddenly knocking, James practically jumped out of his skin, immediately grabbing onto Will’s hand in panic.

“It’s okay!” Will quickly ressures him. “That should be Hopper. I’ll go answer it.”

James glances between the door and Will, slowly willing himself to let go of Will. He does so after a few seconds of unsurity, and so Will slowly rises from his chair, giving James what he hopes is a reassuring smile as he heads for the door.

He opens the door to confirm his assumption.  
“Hey, Chief.” he greets the man.

“Will.” the man nods in greeting. “Any idea what your mother called me down for?”

He lets out a single “hah” unintentionally.  
“Yeah, uh… come on in.”

Hopper furrows his eyebrows in confusion at the reaction, but enters the house anyway. It doesn’t take him long to notice the new face.  
“New friend?”

“Well… Yeah, but…” Will stumbles, not sure how to bring it up without seeming overly eager to reveal James’ secret.

To Will’s surprise, James comes over to them from the table.  
“Seven.” he announces simply as he approaches.

Hopper’s eyes widen immediately. “You mean…”

James displays his tattoo to the man.  
“Yes.”

Hopper sighs, running a hand over his face.  
“Guess that explains the hair… you been alone for all that time?”

He nods his head. “Long time…”

“We don’t know exactly.” Will adds on his behalf. “I just found him on the way home, coming through Mirkwood.”

The man hums. “Taking lessons from Michael, huh?”

Will smirks. “I guess you could say that.”

“And I’m guessing he’s similar to how El was back then, too? Little speech, very timid, y’know?”

“Yeah, a lot like me.” El approaches them from behind, causing Will and James to snap their gazes to her.  
“Hey dad.”

“Hey, kid.” he smiles, giving her a quick hug. Of course, Mike is not two seconds behind her.

“Déja Vu, huh Wheeler?” Hopper jumps straight to conversation.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Mike agrees. “At least James isn’t being chased by those pigs, though. As far as we know, he’s free to start fresh.”

“James, huh?” Hopper questions. “That your real name, kid?”

He shakes his head. “Will, give me James.” he says, pointing to Will with a widening smile. “Because of… double-o-seven.” he slowly words out the number, remembering exactly how it was said.

Hopper nods his head, smirking. “Figures they’d end up referencing _something_ like that.”

“We haven’t asked about his abilities.” Mike informs him.

“Yeah, I don’t really want him to feel overwhelmed or pressured.” Will continues.

“Good, good.” Hopper nods his head. “Best to take it slowly.”

James looks between them, feeling a wave of unsurity. Why would they want to know his ability? Were they going to force him into hurting his head for their benefit, just like the people at the lab did?

He finds that he trusts Will; he really does. Perhaps Mike and El also, considering they have agreed with everything Will’s suggested for him. He realises that, if the rest of them really were out to use him, they’d likely want to use El too; but she seems happy. She seems to trust the others, so maybe James too has no reason to worry.

Maybe he’ll reveal his ability to Will at some point. He’d like to, he won’t deny himself that fact. El too, perhaps Mike. Maybe the others eventually. For now, though, he’s content to just enjoy the company; learn new things and how to live life like a normal person. He looks forward to spending every day with Will, and hopefully plenty of days with El and the rest.


	4. Chapter 4

The day eventually nears its end. Everybody has gone home, minus Hopper and El, and therefore, of course, Mike. Jonathan arrived home after work with Nancy alongside, much to Mike’s mixture of eye-rolling, amusement and annoyance (he would’ve preferred Nancy to find out about James later – but you can’t win every time).

By permission of Hopper and of course James himself, Nancy intends to inform her and Mike’s mother of the new addition to their makeshift family. The Wheeler parents were made aware of El’s true identity and her story by El herself after about two months of her year-long adaptation into normal living, and therefore everyone came to the conclusion that having the extra pair of hands in helping James would be the best course of action.

That brings us to their current situation: deciding where James should stay for the night.

“I get that you’re pretty much sibblings,” Hopper starts to El and James. “which is why I’m on board with taking you in eventually, James.”

James smiles wide, apparently ignoring the ‘eventually’ in that sentence.

“But I can’t do that _yet_. Firstly, I need to speak with Sam, Doc Owens.”

James scrunces his eyebrows in confusion, not knowing who this  _Sam_ person is.

“Now, don’t panic.” Will takes the chance to clarify who the person is. James snaps his gaze to him.  
“You know the lab is closed now, yeah?”

James nods his head.

“Well, before it did close, Sam Owens took over, running it.”

Despite Will’s attempt to keep him calm, James visibly becomes panicked.

“Bad man?”

“No.” Will shakes his head enthusiastically. “I know what it sounds like, but I promise you, he’s a good man.”

“He’s helped hide me from any bad men still out there. He made Hopper my dad. Maybe he can help you, too.” El follows Will.

“I hope so.” Hopper agrees. “Because, as much as it scares me, taking in _another_ superpowered kid; I think it’d be the best option for you, James. El is still learning, sure, but she knows what it’s like for you. She can help you.”

El nods her head. “I can be your sister, you my brother. We can learn together.”

“Sister…” James echos.  
Smiling, he nods his head. “Yes, please.”

“As soon as I can make that happen, I will, kid.” Hopper tells him, patting his shoulder.

“But…” James slowly turns his head towards Will, looking sad despite the good news. Hopper catches on to the unspoken question.

“You’ll still be able to see Will, kid.” Hopper barely contains his eye-roll. He can’t help but see the resemblence of El and Mike in James and Will. He gets it, though; he really does understand the connection between El and Mike, and he wouldn’t be surprised if the same kind of connection is formed between James and Will. The man just hopes, for both of their sakes, that they can work that out between them.

James’ smile in response to that has Will feeling all sorts of emotions. Happiness, that he and James will be able to continue seeing each-other. Warmth, that James would worry about not being able to do so. He feels himself blush at that fact, and can only hope that the others don’t notice.

But most of all, he feels honoured. He realises now why Mike is so obsessed over El: She’s a literal superhero, yet she chooses to be with him.  She’s fully capable of taking care of herself, yet she feels safe with him. She could pick absolutely anybody to be with, yet she considers him the best person out there.

He realises that James might be thinking some of these things about him. At least, the fact that he’s kept himself going all this time, but now he’s worried about being unable to see Will. He, assuming he  _does_ have abilities of his own, is too a literal superhero, yet he wants to remain in contact with Will. He could’ve met anybody, yet here he is, in his home, working out where he’s going to stay for the time being.

Safe to say, Will feels overjoyed. But he also worries, that he may be thinking too much, too quickly.

  


  


“He can stay here.” Joyce tells Hopper firmly, after he brings up the point.

“Joyce… are you sure?” Hopper asks her.

“Of course I am, Hop. That offer has always stood for El, and now it stands for James, too. That cabin of yours is far too small for the two of them.”

“Yeah… it is.” he agrees sadly. The man has come to love the small home he and El made for themselves, but he knows full well that it can’t remain their main home forever.

“You… let me stay here?” James asks her in apparent disbelief.

“Of course, honey!” she finds herself taken back by the disbelief in his voice and expression.  
“You’re welcome here any time you need or want, okay?”

“You can have my bed.” Jonathan tells him. “I don’t mind the sofa.”

Joyce gives Jonathan a warm smile in thanks, feeling proud of her son.

At that, James can’t help himself. His eyes give way to the waterworks, and tears begin to fall whilst his smile grows wide.

“Oh, don’t do that.” Joyce drops to her knees, opening her arms. “You’ll start me off, too.”

James doesn’t hesitate to dive into her arms, expressing multiple “thank you”s into her shoulder as she holds him. She runs her hand up and down his back as he lets himself go, letting out what they understand is the built up emotion over his year of lonliness. 

He eventually manages to pull himself out of Joyce’s arms, to then go straight to Jonathan, hugging him this time, expressing a “thank you” to him as well.

“Hey.” Jonathan huffs a small laugh as the boy leans into him. “Don’t mention it, buddy.”

And then, James turns to Will. The smile on his face growing even larger, Will finds himself acting as a mirror for it. James hugs him tighter than any of the others, knowing that he would not be here were it not for Will’s persistant chasing earlier that day. The realisation that, had Will given him what he’d wanted, and not chased him, he would still be living outside, scavaging for scraps of food, and searching up and down the entire day for clean water.

And so, as he holds Will, his grip gets tighter, and tighter, as he once again lets himself go against Will’s shoulder.

Will doesn’t mind the tightening grip. Truthfully, he loves the feeling; he loves the thought that he’d been able to help James out of the horrifying situation he was in not many hours ago.

  


“I’ll talk to Owens tomorrow.” Hopper tells them. “Hopefully, _god I hope_ , he’ll be able to sort you out, like he did El.”

“Thank you, sir.” James responds.

Hopper nods his head in response to that, before turning to Joyce and Jonathan.

“Thank you, both. Thanks so much.”

“Hey, no problem Chief.” Jonathan responds.

“Yeah, really, it’s no problem.” Joyce agrees.

“Right, well, I’ll give you a shout as soon as I’ve got word from Owens.” the man tells them.

“Thanks so much, Hop.” Joyce opens the door for him, El and Mike.

  


  


Later that night, James falls asleep with the largest smile he’s ever worn. To think that not too long ago, he has still stuck outside, with nobody even aware of his existence. And now, he’s got a family that cares for him as if they’d known him since birth.

Maybe life isn’t all doom and gloom.

Perhaps there are good people out there.

And somehow, he managed to find them.

**Author's Note:**

> Please remember to give feedback! Suggestions are always welcome; if you've got tips to improve my work(s), or want to comment on a particular thing about it, please do let me know your thoughts.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading. <3


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